Biden OK’s $1.2 trillion in spending, avoiding shutdown
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Biden on Saturday signed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills after Congress had passed the long overdue legislation just hours earlier, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown.
“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border . ... That’s good news for the American people.”
It took lawmakers six months into the current budget year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term spending bills to keep agencies funded.
The White House said Biden signed the legislation at his home in Wilmington, Del., where he was spending the weekend. It had cleared the Senate by a 74-24 vote shortly after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight.
But the White House had sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing that the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the Democratic president would sign it Saturday.
The first package of full-year spending bills, which funded the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, and the Interior, among others, cleared Congress two weeks ago with just hours to spare before funding expired for those agencies. The second covered the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State, as well as other aspects of general government.
When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, or financing the country’s rising debt.
On Ukraine aid, which Biden and his administration have argued was critical and necessary to help stop Russia’s invasion, the package provided $300 million under the defense spending umbrella. That funding is separate from a large assistance package for Ukraine and Israel that is bogged down on Capitol Hill.
Biden, in his statement, again pressed Congress to pass additional aid.
“The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests. And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement — the toughest and fairest reforms in decades — to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It’s time to get this done.”
A bipartisan border package collapsed last month when Republicans senators scuttled months of negotiations with Democrats on legislation intended to cut back record numbers of illegal border crossings.
To win over support from Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, pointed to some of the spending increases secured for about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country. That’s about a 24 percent increase from current levels. Also, GOP leadership highlighted more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.
Democrats are boasting of a $1 billion increase for Head
Start programs and new child care centers for military families. They also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.
The spending package largely tracks with an agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arizona preps for election worker safety amid threats
PHOENIX — The room sits behind a chain-link fence, then black iron gates. Guards block the entrance, which requires a security badge to access. The glass surrounding it is shatterproof.
What merits all these layers of protection is somewhat surprising: tabulating machines that count votes in Arizona’s Maricopa County. The security measures are a necessary expense, said the county's recorder, Stephen Richer, as Arizona and its largest county have become hotbeds of election misinformation that drives harassment toward election workers.
“What would be even more of a shame is if we couldn’t look the workers in the eye and say we’re doing everything possible to make sure that you’re safe,” he said.
Richer’s job is to oversee voter registration and early voting, but much of his time has been diverted to preparing for disinformation and its consequences. The state’s razor-thin presidential outcome in 2020 made it a national epicenter for conspiracy theories about voter fraud and phony results.
The false claims promoted by prominent Republican candidates have driven protesters to rally outside vote-counting centers and to patrol drop boxes. They have led to death threats against election workers and their families and prompted top election officials to quit.
Election meddlers have also attempted to hack the state’s electronic systems, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said.
The challenges come as understaffed and underfunded election offices nationwide are dealing with persistent misinformation and harassment of election workers, artificial intelligence deepfakes, potential cyberattacks from foreign governments, and criminal ransomware attacks.
With looming elections this fall, Republican Richer and Democrat Fontes are taking more aggressive steps than ever to rebuild trust with voters, knock down disinformation, and immediately address threats.
They said they are hoping it’s enough to counter an onslaught they know is coming in November.